Project helps children learn about the Holocaust
By Jennifer Archibald Staff writer

Thumbprints make an impression Sixth graders at Carroll Elementary School are making thumbprints on pieces of paper, with each thumbprint representing one child killed in the Holocaust. The social studies project will be ongoing until the number 1.5 million is reached. This year's class stopped at 500,000. The project will be continued by next year's sixth graders. Comet photos by Jennifer Archibald

Carroll Elementary teacher Andrea O'Brien teaches sixth grade students about the Holocaust. She tells them that 1.5 million children were killed during Nazi rule in Germany and occupied Europe during World War II.

That's a large number for children to grasp. This year, to help them better understand, she devised a project. She said she got the idea from a documentary called "Paper Clips," that she showed to her students.

In the film, students at a middle school in Tennessee collect 11 million paper clips to represent the 11 million people who fell victim to Nazi genocide.

O'Brien modified the project for her sixth grade social studies classes. Their goal was to make thumbprints on large sheets of paper, with each thumbprint representing a child killed in the Holocaust. They used different colors of paint, and put as many thumbprints as possible on each piece of paper. With students reporting the numbers, Mrs. O'Brien kept a count for each completed sheet.

The numbers grew and grew, but fell short of the number of children killed. The sixth graders enlisted the help of third, fourth, and fifth graders, but still had many more thumbprints to make.

Mrs. O'Brien said she knew the project would take more than one year. She said this year's students reached 500,000. It was enough to learn the lesson. Many, many children lost their lives in the Holocaust.

As an artistic surprise, the thumbprints do more than just represent numbers. They actually resemble masses of featureless faces. This dual image of thumbprints from today and faces from the past provides a special link in history.

The thumbprinted sheets will be displayed in the school as a reminder of the Holocaust.